When spring arrives this year, Harris Eisenhardt, a “Life” Scout from Boy Scout Troop 8 in Chatham, along with his assembled team of fellow Scouts and volunteers, will be in Flemington to continue working on his final Eagle Scout project.

The project, which was started in the fall of 2013, is designed to pay homage to the men and women interred in three Flemington cemeteries who served in the armed forces during the various conflicts in which the Nation was engaged. To do this, Eisenhardt will be creating a database that will help family and friends to locate each veteran’s grave with greater ease.

It began on the day that Harris’ dad and former-Chatham resident David Eisenhardt asked for Flemington-resident Kerrie Dolan’s hand in marriage. As the couple researched options for an officiant for their wedding ceremony, they learned of Hunterdon County Clerk Mary Melfi who they asked to officiate their ceremony because of her commitment to donating contributions to Safe in Hunterdon; an organization devoted to providing a safe environment to women and children fleeing domestic violence.

On March 23, 2013 Melfi married Mr. and Mrs. Eisenhardt whose children Harris (17) and Liliana (13) Eisenhardt from his previous marriage, and Dolan (10) and Kelly (8) Pawlikoski of Dolan’s previous marriage, were in attendance. It was during the ceremony, that Melfi asked Harris if he happened to be a Boy Scout, and if he happened to be looking for ideas for an Eagle Scout project.

The idea that Melfi described involves visiting the graves of service men and women in three (Prospect Hill, Saint Magdalen and the Jewish Community Center of Flemington Cemetery) local cemeteries to collect information such as the name, dates of birth and death, branch of service, conflict, the Global Positioning System coordinates for the grave and a photograph of the headstone or marker at the grave of each deceased veteran.
This data will then be used by Eisenhardt to populate a searchable database located on the Hunterdon County Website that will make locating the grave of each veteran much easier for visiting families.

The project has already catalogued over 300 veteran entries and is expected to add an addition five to 700 additional names into the database by the end of spring. Relatives and friend of the interred veterans are encouraged to check the borough website this summer for a completed list.

“I’m grateful to Ms. Mefli for this opportunity and to all of those who have helped me along the way…my Dad, my sister Lily, my fellow Scouts Troop 8 and the people who work with Ms. Melfi including Ms. Patricia Leidner” Harris said. “I hope this effort will serve as a benchmark for similar Eagle Projects, where Boy Scouts have an opportunity to give something back to those who served their country and use the database idea in their own communities."